my adventures with white truffle oil

after an amazingly good arugula/parmesan/truffle oil/lemon juice salad at sweets and savories a couple of weeks ago, i was hooked. so last week i stopped in mitchell cobey's food store on north wells and bought a tiny bottle of white truffle oil (labelled olive oil with white truffle). (i saw a different brand later that day down the block at the Spice House). it's my first truffle oil purchase and i wanted to see what easy uses i could find for it. so far i've repeated the arugula salad several times, cooked it in scrambled eggs, drizzled it over a chive omelet, drizzled it over potato salad and made a basic pizza with arugula and the oil added after taking the pizza out of the oven. i was a little stingy with the oil, wanting to see if i could stretch it out, but even a little is enough to perfume a dish. (for a single serving of each of the above i used a heaping teaspoon of oil.) i still have a little left from this tiny (1,4oz) bottle which cost about $13 with tax, and for me was an extravagance. i feel i'm getting my money's worth out of it, though. does anyone have any other simple suggestions on how to use it? thanks, justjoan

Drizzling it on good bread is great. Or add it to hot noodles, along with a little butter, or stir it into mashed potatoes (I like it best with mashed purple potatoes). Or just take a sip out of the bottle.

It's astounding how expensive so-called truffle oil is, especially white truffle oil. According to one of the more stellar French chefs I worked with this summer at the Chicago Botanic Garden, who has no reason to fib about such matters, "truffle oil" is flavored solely with an artifically produced essence - just like cheap vanilla or almond extract. No actual truffle has ever gone anywhere near one of those extravagant little bottles. Zut alors!

sundevilpeg wrote:It's astounding how expensive so-called truffle oil is, especially white truffle oil. According to one of the more stellar French chefs I worked with this summer at the Chicago Botanic Garden, who has no reason to fib about such matters, "truffle oil" is flavored solely with an artifically produced essence - just like cheap vanilla or almond extract. No actual truffle has ever gone anywhere near one of those extravagant little bottles. Zut alors!

This is a startling claim, though I must admit, the truffle oil I bought some years ago in Seattle proved, upon tasting, to have a petroleum backbite that discouraged me from using it again.

There is a case for some truffle oil being faked:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-2219344_1,00.html

http://www.chow.com/stories/10076

http://splendidtable.forum.publicradio.org/article.pl?sid=05/12/11/0844238

I would trust justjoan's discernment here, but I also think we might want to consider the possibility that even "fake truffle" oil might taste good (to a point).

This is an issue worth further investigation.

sundevilpeg wrote:It's astounding how expensive so-called truffle oil is, especially white truffle oil. According to one of the more stellar French chefs I worked with this summer at the Chicago Botanic Garden, who has no reason to fib about such matters, "truffle oil" is flavored solely with an artifically produced essence - just like cheap vanilla or almond extract. No actual truffle has ever gone anywhere near one of those extravagant little bottles. Zut alors!

I have before me my favorite white truffle oil, an Italian brand called "Grand'Aroma" by Mantova. The ingredients are listed as extra virgin olive oil, truffle, and truffle flavor. Since there is a piece of something swimming around the bottom of the bottle, I am inclined to believe that there is at least SOMETHING that is truffle related in it. It does not specify whether the flavor itself is natural or artificial, but it certainly looks like a small piece of white truffle at the bottom of the bottle.

Perhaps the "chef" was confessing that the truffle oil he/she uses is artificial. To say that ALL truffle oil is fake seems to be a sweeping generalization that is pretty hard to back up with facts.

I'm on my second bottle of this oil:



as described in this post about taleggio and truffle oil pizza-- actually, these days I usually mix the oil together with honey, and spread it quickly, note that they will separate almost instantly, including on the pizza itself-- and one thing I noticed is that the color and pungency changed very quickly, comparing the two on the day I finished the first and opened the second made me realize how much the first had lost in the month or two it had been open.

So: I would buy small bottles and I would use them generously, lavishly until they are gone. It is ephemeral, which is not a bad thing.

On the subject of artificially flavored truffle oils: I recently had the great good fortune of visiting the truffle farm of Hugues Martin, head of an international trade group of truffle culturers. Aside from being one of the most interesting and charming persons you could ever meet, he was adamant that the vast majority of truffle oils have no trace of real truffles in them. Now, he is certainly biased, but he also made the claim that Italian white truffles are superior to French black truffles, and for a Frenchman to make such a claim is an indication of some level of integrity.

I brought back with me a bottle of his truffle oil and it is very different from any I have purchased here. There is no aroma at all until it is drizzeld on hot food. At that point, the aroma is very subtle, very rich, and nothing at all like the oils I have purchased here.

Bill/SFNM

Mike G wrote:

So: I would buy small bottles and I would use them generously, lavishly until they are gone. It is ephemeral, which is not a bad thing.

mike, i hope you're storing it in the refrigerator, that'll prolong its life. this is the same brand i bought- it says it contains olive oil and truffle and tastes damn good. i'm intrigued by the truffle oil/honey combo. i took cynthia's advice to try the oil on bread (something so simple-but it hadnt occurred to me!). i used labriola's italian loaf which i like a lot, and warmed it slightly- really fantastic. i think i'll try the same with the oil/honey. joan

I've got to try some truffle oil with honey on bread.... does Trader Joe's sell any truffle oil?

Saint Pizza said: "I've got to try some truffle oil with honey on bread.... does Trader Joe's sell any truffle oil?"

Yes, but I don't recommend it. It is a nice size bottle that says "white truffle oil" on it and I was so excited to find it for such a good price (9.99). The price should have told me that it just tasted like olive oil and not much else. I popped popcorn in it just to use it up

Last week I found a tiny bottle for the same price at Wild Oats in Evanston and this smells and tastes like what other posters are saying. I used it on risotto and it was wonderful.

There's a lot of stuff out there calling itself truffle oil and a big bargain bottle is probably not very truffle-y. I picked the one shown above more or less at random at Marcey St. Market, but was glad shortly thereafter to find out that it was the top recommendation of the woman who owns Bouffe. $10.50 for a small bottle, but you don't need much.

mike, i hope you're storing it in the refrigerator

I am now!

messycook wrote:I asked a woman the other day what her secret was to appear 60, but she in actuality she was 90 years old. She simply said, "Eat a lot of vegetables. The ones that grow around here."

I saw an older gentleman the other day, who looked like he was 55 but he was actually 85. I asked him what his secret was. He said, "Drink a lot of wine. The kind they make in France."

Sounds like good advice to me!

try drizzling truffle honey w/a bleu cheese, like roaring 40's or stilton. as they both possess the 5th taste "umami" they work very well together. i use it all the time on cheese plates. a warm walnut brioche doesn't hurt either.

i'm glad to hear the brand that mikeG and i both bought comes recommended. i'm sorry to see though, that i paid $13.50 but could have gotten it for $10.50 at marcy st. market. good to know. spice house is also $12.50. different brand, i'm not sure if its the same size. they made the mistake of having their 2 sample bottles, black and white truffle oil uncapped so there was little smell left.
i just made some of my favorite bread- a burgundian loaf with walnut oil, toasted walnuts and shallots-very brioche-like. i bet it'll go great with the truffle oil. joan

Since there is a piece of something swimming around the bottom of the bottle, I am inclined to believe that there is at least SOMETHING that is truffle related in it. It does not specify whether the flavor itself is natural or artificial, but it certainly looks like a small piece of white truffle at the bottom of the bottle.

The chef in question - OK, Michael Lachowicz, late of Le Deux Gros and Le Francais, now the owner of the mighty fine Michael in Winnetka - was very emphatic about his point, and also addressed the truffle-in-the-bottle "trick." A scrap of truffle trimmings in a bottle of EVOO is going to do diddly-squat to flavor the oil - it's purely there for sexiness, meaning marketing purposes.

I should add here that I feel comfortable with passing along his thoughts here, as this was not whispered to me in a corner of the walk-in - Chef Lachowicz addressed his remarks to the entire audience during the demo, and he is not exactly a shrinking violet, nor one to beat around the bush. I stand by the veracity of his statement - what would he possibly have to gain by telling a fungus falsehood?

You asked for easy recipes, so I'll share one of my comfort foods (great when I'm feeling sick, hungover or just want my Mommy!)...

Pasta
A little truffle oil
Some additional olive oil or butter
Sea salt
Some hard Italian grating cheese shaved on top (optional)

When I was little, sick food was always buttered noodles. I've just gourmet'ed it up a little.

sundevilpeg wrote:

Since there is a piece of something swimming around the bottom of the bottle, I am inclined to believe that there is at least SOMETHING that is truffle related in it. It does not specify whether the flavor itself is natural or artificial, but it certainly looks like a small piece of white truffle at the bottom of the bottle.

The chef in question - OK, Michael Lachowicz, late of Le Deux Gros and Le Francais, now the owner of the mighty fine Michael in Winnetka - was very emphatic about his point, and also addressed the truffle-in-the-bottle "trick." A scrap of truffle trimmings in a bottle of EVOO is going to do diddly-squat to flavor the oil - it's purely there for sexiness, meaning marketing purposes.

I should add here that I feel comfortable with passing along his thoughts here, as this was not whispered to me in a corner of the walk-in - Chef Lachowicz addressed his remarks to the entire audience during the demo, and he is not exactly a shrinking violet, nor one to beat around the bush. I stand by the veracity of his statement - what would he possibly have to gain by telling a fungus falsehood?

There absolutely may be some truth to what the chef said, but I have to point out that you're waffling a little now. If you admit to the trifle of truffle, then it's a wee bit of waffle. Your original post stated:

"truffle oil" is flavored solely with an artifically produced essence - just like cheap vanilla or almond extract. No actual truffle has ever gone anywhere near one of those extravagant little bottles.

I sincerely believe that there may very well be plenty of faux truffle oils being sold, but given the FDA's labeling laws, I find it hard to believe that there are NO real truffle flavored oils to be had. Sweeping generalizations always make me doubtful. As to what he has to gain by telling a fungus falsehood, I have no idea. Many a speaker has exaggerated or embellished to make a point. My family has a saying, "Never let the truth stand in the way of a good story."

I have read several places in the past that virtually all truffle oil has a synthetic flavor added. Many of them also have verying amounts of real truffle added. I cant remember where I read this info, but one article said that the synthetic additive is chemically identical to the compontnt of the real thing that gives truffles their primary flavor. I actually use quite a bit of the Trader Joes truffle oil. I prefer the white which I think has more flavor. The ingredients are listed as Italian evoo infused with white truffles (tuber magnatium pico), arome. I believe that "arome" or "truffle flavor" both mean the synthetic chemical flavoring. I use the TJ product because I think it is close in flavor to some of the expensive ones, and you can use so much more due to its price that the dish ends up with more truffle flavor. If I am ever feeling flush, I may try to make my own with fresh truffles, but in the meantime....

-Will

could have gotten it for $10.50 at marcy st. market

Actually, that's my second, Bouffe bottle. I don't remember what it was at Marcey St., especially since I think I bought it during a sale when everything was 15% off and I bought a number of extravagances.

Bill/SFNM wrote:... Hugues Martin, head of an international trade group of truffle culturers. Aside from being one of the most interesting and charming persons you could ever meet, he was adamant that the vast majority of truffle oils have no trace of real truffles in them. Now, he is certainly biased, but he also made the claim that Italian white truffles are superior to French black truffles, and for a Frenchman to make such a claim is an indication of some level of integrity.

From what I've seen written on this topic, he's right... I've seen someone make a comment to the effect that the alchemists' dream is finally here: turning something cheap into gold... It seems it's not easy to get the flavours of real truffle into oil but relatively easy to manufacture the chemical responsible for one of the prominent flavour elements and infuse that.

And needless to say, the oil used for most such products is typically of inferior quality. It's a great way not just to get rid of lower quality oil but actually to get even more money for it. Such is the case with the majority of flavoured oils, though better makers presumably use decent oil as the base.

The degree to which there exist widely distributed oils that are flavoured naturally with truffles is the question and the degree to which makers that use natural flavouring augment it with the artificially made product is another.

But if one likes the taste of a particular oil and doesn't mind the price, maybe it doesn't matter.

Antonius

sundevilpeg wrote:"truffle oil" is flavored solely with an artifically produced essence - just like cheap vanilla or almond extract. No actual truffle has ever gone anywhere near one of those extravagant little bottles. Zut alors!

Cook's Illustrated's tests with vanilla extracts have shown that artificial vanilla can be better than the real thing.

Wikipedia wrote:Cook's Illustrated ran several taste tests pitting vanilla against vanillin in baked goods and other applications, and to the consternation of the magazine editors, all tasters preferred the flavor of vanillin to vanilla.

There absolutely may be some truth to what the chef said, but I have to point out that you're waffling a little now. If you admit to the trifle of truffle, then it's a wee bit of waffle. Your original post stated:Quote:
"truffle oil" is flavored solely with an artifically produced essence - just like cheap vanilla or almond extract. No actual truffle has ever gone anywhere near one of those extravagant little bottles.

Nope. No waffling here. I stated that Chef Lachowicz said that that miniscule bit of truffle added to the high-end truffle oils has no real purpose other than for marketing the product. Adds nothing to the flavor.

I'm not saying that truffle oil is inherently evil, understand, and neither was Chef. He was merely stating what he knows to be fact, for the informational purposes of the audience. This differs, BTW, from the vanilla/vanillin statement, in that "natural truffle essence" is as fanciful as the unicorn - there's nothing to compare it to.

I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'.